ABOUT US

The Design Hive is based in Highbridge and Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset and was founded in 2005. We are big on building strong brands through a comprehensive range of design, digital and print services to suit each client.

The studio is led by Melanie Downing and made up of handpicked creatives and web developers to provide our clients with a full range of design services. Our team is driven and passionate about creating perfection no matter how small or large your project. Whether you have a quick ten minute job or a project requiring a range of skills, we are happy to help. Building strong brands and applying this brand throughout your print design material is what we do best. If you already have a logo and brand, talk to us about our graphic design services. We are inspired and motivated by seeing a clients face light up with pride when they view their new design concept for the first time.

the worker bees

Melanie Downing

Creative Director/Owner

Tash Wynn

Senior Designer

Laura Brown

Social Media Expert

Signage Team

Signage Team

WEBSITE TEAM

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

Melanie Downing

Creative Director/Owner

Tash Wynn

Senior Designer

Laura Brown

Social Media Expert

Signage Team

Signage Team

WEBSITE TEAM

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

HIVE TESTIMONIALS

Mendip District Council had Tourism & Heritage maps for Shepton Mallet designed by The Design Hive. The tender was won by The Design Hive due to their clarity of designs and appeal of earlier interpretive map panels created for other Council’s. The colours and design had an instant attraction with the committee that commissioned the work. Their work was of an excellent standard as was their patience during the numerous drafts – the final result has been greatly appreciated by the town and tourists with numerous favourable comments.

Domonique Project Manager Mendip District Council

Eat Festivals re-brand: Mel worked quickly on a wide-ranging brief to produce two logos that nailed our expectations. We need an over-arching brand and a logo that could be adapted for each event. She incorporated our wish list, dream list and “shoot for the moon list.” We have received consistently positive feedback on our new identity and wouldn’t hesitate in recommending her to others.

Beverley Milner-Simonds Eat Festivals

We have been working with The Design Hive since 2000, and have always found them reliable, on budget, honest and on time. They have never missed a deadline in five years. The Design Hive have been with us from the start, looking after all our graphic design work and our website. We now own 10 holiday parks throughout Somerset, and require a huge range of design work, on a weekly basis. The Design Hive are very passionate and share our excitement when a new project comes along. We usually provide some key points, but allow The Design Hive to use their imagination.
We have always been impressed with the level of design work produced. They always come up with a very high end product, which is appealing to our target market. They have established a strong brand throughout all our parks and that brand is recognised throughout Somerset and across the UK.
The Design Hive are great at listening and working closely with us to achieve the right outcome. They don’t just have a set style like many designers, they adapt the design and style to the needs of the customer.
We’ve worked on many projects with The Design Hive. Brochures, leaflets, flyers, map illustrations, signage, website work, business stationery, welcome packs, posters, and much more.
We would highly recommend their services. We have a fantastic working relationship with The Design Hive and they have always gone above and beyond what is required to complete a job.

Charlotte Abrahams West Country Parks

I urge anyone looking for new designs for their flyers, posters, business cards, certificates and many, many more to use The Design Hive

Ashley White AW Inflatables

New You Laser Lipo – You saved my business!! I came to the design hive after a well known company in Taunton took over a month just to look at my spec for a logo and flyers.

I phoned Mel and after a detailed consultation (with questions I hadn’t even considered yet!) she came back to me within 2 days with the perfect logo, another 2 days and she had drawn up flyers and posters ready for print, they captured all aspects of my business and I couldn’t have asked for a more professional or competative package.

Ros Lane New You Laser Lipo

Melanie at The Design Hive completely redesigned the company website in 2001, and has been adding to it and updating it on a regular basis since. They have also created and printed promotional materials in the way of brochures, leaflets, folders and signage.

Their interpretation of our company and its ethos is completely projected through the different aspects of our website, promotional material and signage. All work carried out has been done to agreed time scales and budgets. I would not hesitate to recommend The Design Hive to carry out any type of media or promotional work and can confirm that their ideas and designs are modern with a fresh approach.

Steve Travis Harris & Collard Bros

The Design Hive have worked with us on several projects over recent months including logo design, corporate branded stationery & our new website. For each of our projects, The Design Hive have listened to our requests and injected their own creative touch with the final results far exceeding our expectations. They have always been helpful and willing to go the extra mile to satisfy our needs. The Design Hive look after the search engine optimisation for our new website and we are already reaping the rewards from increased enquires.

Kevin Evans Director Restor8 Weston Super Mare

I have been working with The Design Hive for over 10 years now. During this time they have designed a wide selection of work for me including price lists, appointment cards, vouchers and our shop sign. I have always been delighted with the work and no end of ideas for the job in hand and have found their enthusiasm and dedication refreshing. I will definitely continue to use The Design Hive and will also recommend them as they are so competively priced. No matter what the job they always put their heart and soul in to it.

Lucy Cave Owner Headway Hair Salon Near Street Somerset

The Design Hive have been designing signage and interpretation panels with us for over four years and we find their approach fresh, contemporary and dare I say it very competitively priced! The Design Hive can adapt with ease to a wide variety of challenges we throw at them from conceptual design and ideology, project management right through to end product installations. They come highly recommended and we hope to keep working with them in the future.

Steve Horsey Arien Signs Cheddar Somerset

We have been working with Melanie at The Design Hive for many years now. From highly professional looking brochures and stationery to signage and regular client newsletters, we have found the quality of design and print excellent. We would have no hesitation in recommending The Design Hive to other organisations.

Huw Powell Moore Stephens Financial Planners

Many thanks for all your help getting this board so bright and beautiful, it really does look very professional and eye catching.

Project Manager Butterfly Conservation

Melanie Downing

Creative Director/Owner

Mel is an ideas-led, multi-skilled graphic designer and website designer. She graduated from The City of Bristol College in 2003 and has worked within the industry ever since. Mel has put her heart and sole into building The Design Hive and is truly passionate about the business, the industry and our clients. Mel has a vast range of experience within the industry and achieves excellent results by listening and understanding the needs of the client and finds inspiration by sketching ideas down on paper before developing all artwork digitally.

Mel’s Background:

After graduating, Mel went on to work with some incredible companies, gaining a diverse range of graphic design, website design and print design skills.

Tash Wynn

Senior Designer

Tash is a highly-motivated senior graphic designer with eight years industry experience. She has worked on campaigns for major brands increasing sales by up to 400% in the retail, kids and entertainment industries such as Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, Warner Brothers and Wella. Tash can work across a variety of different design disciplines including branding, press advertising, catalogue layout, POS and packaging. Given this wide range of disciplines, Tash is highly experienced in taking a brief from concept, through to design and creating print ready artwork. Tash is a great addition to The DesignHive team.

Laura Brown

Social Media Expert

Recently crowned Queen of Social Media, Laura lives and breathes all things online. Laura set up Introtweet in 2013 and has been working with us on our social media since early 2016.

Signage Team

Signage Team

As the design studio is situated within Quicksign, we have partnered up with Quicksign so that we can offer all our customers a complete design, vehicle livery, signage manufacture and installation service. We are able to oversea a project from start to finish by working with an experienced signage team, who have been established since 1987.

WEBSITE TEAM

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

The Design Hive work with a team of award winning website professionals on certain web projects to make sure we deliver the very best to all our clients. The scale and size of your project will dictate who works on your website. The team consists of two web designers, a front end developer and a back end web developer.